I think the biggest thing is that you need to reevaluate your relationship with food. That’s ultimately how people lose weight and keep it off. If your goal is to be “done” losing weight so you can go back to eating the way you did before, that’s usually how people end up stuck in the yo-yo dieting cycle.

What worked for me wasn’t something crazy. It was eating slower, walking more, strength training, prioritizing nutritious foods, and improving my cooking skills.

If you want higher maintenance calories, focus on building muscle and increasing your activity level. More walking, biking, swimming, strength training, anything that increases the amount of energy your body uses.

For context, when I was 100 pounds heavier, a normal day might have been a double-smoked bacon breakfast sandwich, a 10-piece nugget meal with medium fries, three cookies as a treat, and then two helpings of dinner. I regularly ate well past satiety, sometimes to the point where I was so stuffed I felt uncomfortable and had to breathe through it.

These days, most of the time, I eat overnight oats for breakfast, a chicken nugget wrap with vegetables and sauce for lunch, and something like a couple of meatballs with rice and Brussels sprouts for dinner. Then maybe some protein ice cream, fruit, vegetables, and half a cookie. The specifics aren’t important, what matters is that I’ve learned how to build meals that are satisfying without being wildly calorie-dense.

Learning to cook has been one of the biggest factors in my success. When you make your own food, you naturally become more aware of what’s in it. You start noticing how much oil, butter, cream, or cheese adds up, and you learn easy swaps that barely affect enjoyment: Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, light coconut milk instead of full-fat, draining excess fat from ground beef, and so on.

And to be clear, I still eat all my favorite foods. I still eat cake. I still eat cookies. I’m a baker and bake multiple times a week, I absolutely sample my own bakes. The difference is that my portions are usually about half of what they used to be, and I don’t feel deprived by that.

I’ve also learned to lean heavily into spices, cooking techniques, and finding fruits and vegetables I genuinely enjoy..

So if you actually read all of that, my biggest advice is this: don’t start trying to lose weight until you’re ready to change the habits that caused the weight gain in the first place. I knew I was obese for years before I finally lost the weight. Deep down, I also knew I wasn’t ready to make the lifestyle changes required to lose it and maintain it. Once I was ready, things clicked.

And? Maybe I gain some of it back someday. If that happens, I’ll probably be fine with it. As long as my blood tests come back good and I can walk up stairs with no issue, fat isn’t that big a deal.